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ISifcerjsiDe educational jKlonosrap^iS 

EDITED BY HENRY SUZZALLO 

PROFESSOR OF THE PHILOSOPHY OF EDUCATION 
TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 



THE TEACHING OF 
HISTORY 

BY 

ERNEST C. HARTWELL, M.A. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, PETOSKEY, MICH. 




HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY 

BOSTON, NEW YORK AND CHICAGO 

(Cfce iftitoer#&e $re#£ Cambribge 



D 



COPYRIGHT, 1913, BY ERNEST C. HARTWELL 
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 



©CI.A347137 



CONTENTS 

Editor's Introduction v 

I. Some Preliminary Considerations . i 

II. How to Begin the Course ... 4 

III. The Assignment of the Lesson . 18 

IV. The Method of the Recitation. . 34 
V. Various Modes of Review . . 45 

VI. The Use of Written Reports . . 62 

VII. Examinations as Tests of Progress 64 

Outline 69 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

This volume is offered as a guide to history 
teachers of the high school and the upper gram- 
mar grades. It is directly concerned with the 
teaching methods to be employed in the history 
period. The author assumes the limiting condi- 
tions that surround classroom instruction of the 
present day ; he also takes for granted the teacher's 
sympathy with modern aims in history instruc- 
tion. All discussions of purpose and content are 
therefore subordinated to a clear presentation of 
the details of effective teaching technique. 

The reader into whose hands this volume falls 
will be deeply interested in the ideals of teaching 
implied in the concrete suggestions given in the 
following pages, for after all the value of any sys- 
tem of special methods rests, not merely on its 
apparent and immediate psychological effective- 
ness, but also on the social purposes which it is 
devised to serve. It must be recognized at the 
outset that history has a social purpose. However 
much university teaching may be interested in 
truth for its own sake, an interest necessarily basic 
v 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

to the service of all other ends, the teaching of 
the lower public schools must take into account 
the relevancy of historical fact to current and 
future problems which concern men and women 
engaged in the common social life. So the ele- 
mentary and secondary school teachers of the 
more progressive sort recognize that the way in 
which historical truths are selected and related to 
one another determines two things : (i) Whether 
our group experiences as interpreted in his- 
tory will have any intelligent effect upon men's 
appreciations of current social difficulties, and 
(2) whether history will make a more vital appeal 
to youth at school. 

Certainly children, whose interests arise not 
alone from their innate impulses, but also from 
the world in which they have lived from the be- 
ginning, will be eager to know the past that is of 
dominant concern to the present. It is clear gain 
in the psychology of instruction if history is a 
socially live thing. The children will be more 
eager to acquire knowledge; they will hold it 
longer, because it is significant ; and they will 
keep it fresh after school days are over because 
life will recall and review pertinent knowledge 
again and again. There can be no separation be- 
tween the dominant social interests of community 
vi 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

life and effective pedagogical procedure ; the for- 
mer in large part determines the latter. 

Such educational reforms in history teaching 
as have already won acceptance confirm the 
existence of this vital relation between current 
social interests and the learning process. The 
barren learning of names and dates has long since 
been supplanted by a study of sequences among 
events. The technical details of wars and politi- 
cal administrations have given way to a study of 
wide economic and social movements in which 
battles and laws are merely overt results rein- 
forcing the current of change. History, once a 
self-inclosed school discipline, has undergone an 
intellectual expansion which takes into account 
all the aspects of life which influence it, making 
geographical, economic, and biographical ma- 
terials its aids. All these and many other minor 
changes attest the fact that a vital mode of in- 
struction always tends to accompany that view 
of history which regards the study of the past 
as a revelation of real social life. 

The authors suggestions will, therefore, be of 
distinct value to at least two groups of history 
teachers. Those who believe in the larger uses 
of history teaching, so much argued of late, will 
find here the procedures that will express the 
vii 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

ideals and obtain the results they seek. Those 
who are not yet ready to accept modern doctrine, 
but who feel a keen discontent with the older 
procedure, will find in these pages many sug- 
gestions that will appeal to them as worthy of 
experimental use. It may be that the successful 
use of many methods here suggested may be the 
easy way for them to come into an acceptance 
of the larger principles of current educational 
reform. 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 



SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 

Assumptio7is as to the teacher of history 

This monograph will make no attempt to analyze 
the personality of the ideal teacher. It is as- 
sumed that the teacher of history has an adequate 
preparation to teach his subject, that he is in 
good health, and that his usefulness is unimpaired 
by discontent with his work or cynicism about the 
world. It is presupposed that he understands the 
wisdom of correlating in his instruction the geo- 
graphy, social progress, and economic develop- 
ment of the people which his class are studying. 
He is aware that the pupil should experience 
something more than a kaleidoscopic view of iso- 
lated facts. He recognizes the folly of requiring 
four years of high school English for the purpose 
of cultivating clear, fluent, and accurate expres- 
sion, only to relax the effort when the student 
comes into the history class. He knows that the 
precision, logic, and habit of definite thinking 
I 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

exacted by the pursuit of the scientific subjects 
should not be laid aside when the student at- 
tempts to trace the rise of nations. Let us 
go so far as to assume a teacher who is both ped- 
agogical and practical ; scholarly without being 
musty; imbued with a love for his subject and 
yet familiar with actual human experience. 

Actual conditions confronted by the teacher 

There are from one hundred and eighty to two 
hundred recitation periods of forty-five minutes 
each, minus the holidays, opening exercises, ath- 
letic mass meetings, and other respites, in which 
to teach a thousand years of ancient history, 
twenty centuries of English history, or the story 
of our own people. The age of the student will 
be from thirteen to eighteen. His judgment is 
immature ; his knowledge of books, small ; his in- 
terest, far from zealous. He will have three other 
subjects to prepare and his time is limited. Also, 
he is a citizen of the Republic and by his vote 
will shortly influence, for good or ill, the des- 
tinies of the nation. 

The purpose of this monograph is to discuss 
the means by which the teacher can engender 
in this student a genuine enthusiasm for the sub- 
ject, stimulate research and historical judgment, 
2 



PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 

correlate history, geography, literature, and the 
arts, cultivate proper ideals of government, estab- 
lish a habit of systematic note-taking, and pos- 
sibly prepare the student for college entrance 
examinations. 



II 

HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

Very obviously each moment of the child's time 
and preparation should be wisely directed. Each 
recitation should perform its full measure of use- 
fulness, in testing, drilling, and teaching. There 
will be no time for valueless note-taking, dupli- 
cation of map-book work, ambiguous or foolish 
questioning, aimless argument, or junketing ex- 
cursions. 

What should be done on the day of enrollment 

The day that the child enrolls in class should 
begin his assigned work. In the first ten min- 
utes of the first meeting of the class, while the 
teacher is collecting the enrollment cards, he 
should also gather some data as to his students' 
previous work in history. This information will 
be of considerable assistance to the teacher in 
letting him know what he may reasonably expect 
of his new pupils. The class should not depart 
without a definite assignment for the next day. 
Let the preparation for the first recitation con- 
sist in answering such questions as : — 

4 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

1. What is the name of the text you are to use ? 
(Know its precise title.) 

2. What is the name, reputation, and position 
of the author? 

3. Of what other books is he the author ? 

4. Read the preface of the book. 

5. What do you think are the purposes of the 
subject you are about to take up? 

6. Give the titles and authors of other books 
on the same period of history. 

7. What has been your method of study in 
other courses of history ? 

What should be done at the first meeting of 
the class 

On the second day when the class assembles, 
let as many of the students as possible be sent 
to the board to answer questions on the day's 
assignment. The pupil will immediately discover 
that the teacher purposes to hold the class 
strictly responsible for the preparation of assigned 
work. The teacher will face a class prepared to 
ask intelligent questions about the course they 
are entering upon. The class will discover that 
work is to begin at once. The inertia of the vaca- 
tion will be immediately overcome. 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

Necessity for definite instruction in methods of 
preparing a lesson 

Having secured, by class discussion and the 
work at the board, satisfactory answers to the 
first six questions, and having assigned the lesson 
for the next day, the remainder of the hour and, 
if necessary, the rest of the week should be spent 
in outlining for the student a method of study. 
That very few students of high school age possess 
habits of systematic study, needs no discussion. 
In spite of all that their grade teachers may have 
done for them, their tendency is to pass over 
unfamiliar words, allusions, and expressions, with- 
out troubling to use a dictionary. The average 
high school student will not read the fine print at 
the bottom of the page, or use a map for the 
location of places mentioned in the text without 
special instruction to do so. He will set himself 
no unassigned tasks in memory work. It is the 
first business of the good instructor to teach the 
student how to study. The first step in this pro- 
cess is to impress on the student's mind that 
systematic preparation in the history class is as 
necessary as in Latin, physics, or geometry. Then 
let the following or similar instructions be given 
him: — 

6 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

1. Provide yourself with an envelope of small 
cards or pieces of note paper. Label each 
with the subject of the lesson and the date 
of its preparation. These envelopes should 
be always at hand during your study and 
preparation. They should be preserved and 
filed from day to day. 

2. Read the lesson assigned for the day in the 
textbook, including all notes and fine print. 

3. Write on a sheet of note paper all the un- 
familiar words, allusions, or expressions. 
Later, look these up in the dictionary or 
other reference. 

4. Record the dates which you think worthy 
to be remembered. 

5. Discover and make a note of all the appar- 
ent contradictions, inconsistencies, or inac- 
curacies in the author's statements. 

6. Use the map for all the places mentioned 
in the lesson. Be able to locate them when 
you come to class. 

7. In nearly every text there is a list of books 
for library use, given at the beginning or 
end of each chapter. Make yourself familiar 
with this bibliography. 

8. Read the special questions assigned for the 
day by the teacher. 

7 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

9. Go to the library. If the book for which 
you are in search is not to be found, try 
another. 

10. Learn to use an index. If the topic for 
which you are looking does not appear in 
the index, try looking for the same thing 
under another name; or under some related 
topic. 

1 1. Having found the material in one book, use 
more than one if your time permits. When 
you feel that you have secured the material 
which will make a complete answer to the 
question, write the answer on one of your 
cards for keeping notes. 

12. Remember that the teacher will ask con- 
stantly what was done, when was it done, 
and, most important of all, why it was done. 
Make a list of the questions which you 
think most likely to be asked on the lesson 
and ascertain whether you can answer them 
without the use of your notes or text. 

13. If possible practice your answers aloud. It 
will make you the more ready when called 
on in class. 

14. Keep a list of things which are not clear to 
you and about which you wish to ask ques- 
tions. 

8 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

15. Before completing your preparation, read 
over these instructions and be sure that you 
have complied with them. 

It may be claimed that no high school student 
can be expected to follow such instructions and 
that to secure such a daily preparation is impos- 
sible ; in answer to which it must be admitted 
that merely a perfunctory talk on methods of pre- 
paration will accomplish little. If the instruction 
just suggested is to bear fruit, the teacher must 
take pains to see that it is followed. Carefully to 
prepare his lesson according to a definite plan 
must become a habit with the student. Facility, 
accuracy, and thoroughness are impossible other- 
wise. Haphazard methods are wasteful of time 
and unproductive of results. The teacher can 
afford to emphasize method during the first few 
weeks of the course. The time thus spent in 
assisting the pupil to develop definite habits of 
study will pay rich dividends for the remainder 
of the student's life. Daily inquiry as to the 
method of study pursued, frequent examination 
of the student's notes, questions on the import- 
ant dates selected, the books used for prepara- 
tion, new words discovered, and so on, will keep 
the importance of the plan before the class and 

9 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

do much to foster the habit of systematic prepa- 
ration. 

The question of note-taking 

On the question of notebook work, there will 
always be a considerable difference of opinion. 
It is much easier to state what notebook work 
should not be than to outline precisely how it 
should be conducted. Certainly it should not be 
overdone. It should not be an exercise usurping 
time disproportionate to its value. It should not 
be required primarily for exhibition purposes, 
although such notes as are kept should be kept 
neatly and spelled correctly. 

Students should be encouraged to keep their 
envelope of note paper always at hand during 
recitation and while reading. The habit of jotting 
down facts, opinions, statistics, comparisons, and 
contradictions while they are being read is most 
desirable and worthy of cultivation. The student 
should be taught the wisdom of keeping his notes 
in a neat, legible, and easily available form. 
Shorthand methods should be discouraged. With 
a little tactful direction early in the year, the stu- 
dent may be led to form a most useful habit. The 
greater the proportion of intelligent note-taking 
that is done without compulsion, the better. No 
10 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

more notes should be required than the teacher 
can honestly look over, correct, and grade. It is 
better to require no notes at all than to accept 
careless, superficial inaccuracies as honest work. 
One curse of high school history teaching is the 
tendency of young teachers trained in college 
history classes to assign more work than the stu- 
dent can honestly do or the teacher properly cor- 
rect. 

As has already been intimated, history notes 
should not be kept in a book. The required notes 
should be kept on separate sheets of paper. The 
topics should be clearly indicated at the top of 
each sheet. The authorities used in arriving at 
the answer should always be given, with the vol- 
ume, chapter, and page. The notes on related 
topics should be put into an envelope and pro- 
perly labeled. After the recitation the student 
can make any necessary corrections in his notes 
without spoiling their appearance. He will sim- 
ply substitute a new sheet for the old. If the 
teacher discovers in his periodic examination of 
the notes that some of the matter asked for has 
not been properly covered or that errors have not 
been corrected, the notes needing revision can 
be detained for use in a conference with the stu- 
dent, while the others are returned. If at any 
ii 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

time after completing his high school work the 
student desires to use the data contained in his 
notes or to add to them matter which he may 
later read, they are in available form. For con- 
venience and neatness, for present use, and fu- 
ture reference this device is far superior to the 
formal notebook. It has the further advantage of 
accustoming the student to the method of note- 
taking which will be required of those who go to 
college. 

It would save much valuable time, at present 
frequently wasted in writing useless notes, if the 
teacher constantly squared his notebook require- 
ments with questions such as these : — 

1. Is the notebook work as I am conducting 
it calculated to develop the habit of critical 
reading ? 

2. Does the time spent in writing up notes 
justify itself by fixing in the child's mind 
new and really relevant information not 
given in the text ? 

3. Is it teaching students to combine facts, 
opinions, and statistics, to form conclusions 
really their own ? 

4. Is the amount of work required reasonable 
when it is remembered that the child has 

12 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

three other subjects to prepare, that he is 
from thirteen to eighteen years of age, and 
more or less unfamiliar with a library ? 
5. Am I able carefully and punctually to cor- 
rect all the notes required ? 

Whatever the method the teacher thinks best 
to be used should be explained early in the course 
and thereafter the student should be held scrupu- 
lously responsible for such requirements as are 
made. 

Instruction in the use of the library and indexes 

Having discussed with the class the questions 
assigned on the day of enrollment and explained 
the method of study recommended for their use, 
it will be well for the teacher to devote some 
time to instruction in the use of the library. It is 
possible that the older classes will require very 
little of this, but there are few classes where an 
hour, at least, cannot well be spent in a discus- 
sion of indexes, titles, and relative value of the 
works on various subjects. This hour need not 
be the regular recitation period. A session be- 
fore or after school could be devoted to the pur- 
pose. The teacher's instruction, however, will 
be greatly assisted if the students are asked to 

13 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

prepare answers before coming to class to such 
questions as the following : — 

i. How much previous work have you done 
in the library ? 

2. Of what use do you think the library should 
be to you in the course you are just en- 
tering ? 

3. What is a source book ? Of what use are 
source books ? 

4. What source books on this period of history 
are in the library ? 

5. What do you think will be the best references 
for questions on the artistic, industrial, po- 
litical, social, economic, and military phases 
of the history you are about to study ? 

6. What encyclopedias and works of general 
reference are in your library ? 

The preparation of answers to such questions 
as these will present to the student some of the 
difficulties inevitable to his future library work 
and will send him to class prepared to ask intel- 
ligent questions. It will enable the teacher ac- 
curately to gauge how much his students already 
know about a library and its uses. 

The value and advantage of library work should 
be carefully explained to the class. It is a great 

14 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

error to allow pupils to think of their library work 
as drudgery, assigned solely to keep them busy 
or to make the course difficult. There are too few 
boys to-day with a genuine love of books, partly 
no doubt due to the fact that a reference library 
has become for them, not a rich mine of inter- 
esting matter, but a hydra-headed interrogation 
point. A great good has been done the student 
who has been taught the pleasure of using books. 
Nor is such a thing impossible. Nothing gives 
greater satisfaction to the normal high school boy 
than to find an error in the text, the teacher's 
statements, or the map. He takes pleasure in 
confuting the statistics or judgments quoted in 
class, by others of opposite trend, encountered 
in his reading. He enjoys asking keen questions. 
If the student is told that the library work is for 
the purpose of cultivating his powers of investi- 
gation and adding to the matter in the text many 
interesting details ; if the library requirements 
are reasonable and wisely directed ; if he is given 
an opportunity to use the information he has 
gathered from his reading, his interest in books 
will steadily increase. 

The teacher should explain the value of re- 
membering accurately the titles and the authors 
of books used for reference. The silly habit of 

15 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

referring to an authority as " the book bound in 
green " or " the large book by what 's his name " 
is easily prevented if taken in time. 

The teacher should discover by assignments 
made in class what degree of proficiency in the 
use of an index is already possessed by his pu- 
pils. There are few classes where the use of an 
index is thoroughly understood. Time should be 
taken to demonstrate the quickest possible meth- 
ods of finding what a book contains. The use of 
the catalogue and card index should be carefully 
explained and illustrated. 

Attention should be called to the best sources 
on the various phases of the history to be studied. 
There ought to be no poor histories in the 
library, but if there are any to which the students 
have access, warning should be given against 
their use. 

The value of periodicals and current literature 
for work in history should be illustrated and the 
use of Poole s Index and the Reader s Guide ex- 
plained. 

The class should be acquainted with the rules 
of the library and cautioned against the misuse 
of books. The necessity of leaving reference books 
where all the class can use them should be made 
apparent. 

16 



HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

Direction in the use of the library, like instruc- 
tion in the method of study, is a prerequisite to 
the best results in high school history classes, 
for no matter how conscientious the teacher, the 
recitation will be deadly if the student has no 
working knowledge of the library nor proper 
method of preparation. A class unable to ask in- 
telligent questions about the work is not ready 
for the presentation of additional matter by the 
teacher. It is no difficult matter for a teacher to 
entertain his class for an hour with interesting 
incidents of the period in which the lesson occurs. 
A history teacher who cannot talk interestingly 
for an hour on any of the great periods of history 
has surely missed his calling. But to keep a class 
quiet, to retain their attention, to amuse and en- 
tertain, is far from making history vital. If the 
recitation is to be really vital, the students must 
do most of the talking, the criticizing, and the 
questioning. There can be none of these worth 
while without proper preparation. 



Ill 

THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

Careful assignment will reveal to the student the 
relation of geography and history 

The recitation can never hope to achieve its 
maximum helpfulness unless the lesson be intelli- 
gently assigned. The work required must be 
reasonable in amount, and not so exacting as to dis- 
courage interest. Daily direction to look up un- 
familiar words, expressions, and allusions must 
be given until the habit becomes fixed. Warn- 
ing against possible geographical misconceptions 
should be given when necessary, together with 
directions to use the map for places, routes, and 
boundaries. A few questions asked in advance, 
with the purpose of bringing out the relation of the 
geography to the history in the lesson, will be of 
great assistance. For example, if the class are 
to study the Louisiana Purchase, the full signifi- 
cance of that revolutionary event will be made 
much clearer if the student is asked to prepare 
answers before coming to class to such questions 
as the following : — 

18 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

1. What States are included in the purchase? 

2. What is its area ? How does it compare with 
the area of the original thirteen States ? 

3. What geographical reasons caused Napoleon 
to sell it? 

4. What influence did the purchase have on 
our retention of the territory east of the 
Mississippi? Why? 

5. How many people live to-day in the terri- 
tory included in the purchase ? 

His power of analysis and criticism will be 
stimulated 

A lesson should be so assigned that the stu- 
dent will read the text with his eye critically 
open to inconsistencies, contradictions, and inac- 
curacies. With a text of six hundred pages, and 
with a hundred and eighty recitations in which 
to cover them, it is not too much to expect that 
the average of three or four pages daily shall be 
studied so thoroughly that the student can ana- 
lyze and summarize each day's lesson. The 
teacher should not make such analysis in advance 
of the recitation, but he should so assign the 
lesson that the student will be prepared to give 
one when he comes to class. A word in advance 
by the teacher will prompt the student who is 

19 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

studying the American Revolution, to classify 
its causes as direct and indirect, economic and 
political, social and religious. There is no diffi- 
culty in finding good authorities who disagree 
as to the effect on America of the English trade 
restrictions. Callendar's Economic History of the 
United States quotes five of the best authorities 
on this point, and covers the case in a few pages. 
A reference by the teacher to this or some other 
authority will bring out a lively discussion on the 
justice of the American resistance. Let the class 
be asked to account for the colonial opposition to 
the Townshend Acts, when the Stamp Act Con- 
gress had declared that the regulation of the 
Colonies' external trade was properly within the 
powers of Parliament. Let the class be asked to 
explain a statement that the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence does not mention the real underlying 
causes of the Revolution. A few suggestions 
and advanced questions of this sort will stimu- 
late a critical analysis of the statements in the 
text, and send the student to class keen for an 
intelligent discussion. 

Ordinarily, when a class is averaging three or 

four pages of the text daily, it is an error for 

the teacher to point out in advance certain dates 

and statistics that need not be memorized. Such 

20 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

selection should be left to the student. During the 
recitation the teacher will discover what dates, 
statistics, and other matter the student has se- 
lected as worthy to be memorized, and if correc- 
tion is necessary it may then be made. It dulls 
the edge of the pupil's enthusiasm to be told in 
advance that some of the text is not worthy to be 
remembered. Furthermore such instruction does 
nothing to develop the student's sense of histori- 
cal proportion, for it substitutes the judgment of 
the teacher for that of the pupil. 

Advance questions asking explanation of state- 
ments made in the text, or by other authors deal- 
ing with the same period, insure that the lesson 
will be read understandingly and that the author's 
statements will be carefully analyzed. Such de- 
clarations as the following are illustrations of 
statements whose explanation might profitably 
be required in advance : — 

i. "The Constitution was extracted by neces- 
sity from a reluctant people." 

2. "Oregon was a make-weight for Texas." 

3. " The greatest evil of slavery was that it 
prevented the South from accumulating 
capital." 

4. "The day that France possesses New Or- 

21 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

leans we must marry ourselves to the British 
fleet." 

5. "The cause of free labor won a substantial 
triumph in the Missouri Compromise." 

6. "The second war with England was not one 
of necessity, policy, or interest on the part 
of the Americans ; it was rather one of 
party prejudice and passion." 

The conditions in other countries will add to his 
comprehension of the facts in the lesson 

In so far as the next lesson requires an under- 
standing of the history or conditions of another 
country, the attention of the class should be di- 
rected in advance to such necessity. Special ref- 
erences or brief reports may be advisable. A few 
well-selected advance questions will send the 
class to recitation prepared to discuss what other- 
wise the teacher must explain. A few questions 
on the character of James II, his ideals of gov- 
ernment, the chief causes of the revolution of 
1688, and its most important results will do much 
to explain the colonial resistance to Andros. A 
few questions designed to bring out the impera- 
tive necessity of English resistance to Napoleon 
will make clear the hostile commercial decrees, 
impressment, and interference with the rights of 
22 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

neutral ships. Such questions reduce the neces- 
sity of explanation by the teacher to a minimum. 

His disposition to study intensively will be 
encouraged 

If the teacher expects the class to deal more 
intensively than the text with the matters dis- 
cussed in the lesson, a few advance questions 
will be of great assistance. Suppose, for example, 
that the text contents itself with saying that for 
political reasons the first United States Bank 
was not rechartered, and shortly after informs 
the reader that the second United States Bank 
was rechartered because the State banks had 
suspended specie payments. The student may 
or may not be curious about the failure of the 
first bank to receive a new charter, the operation 
of State banks, or why they suspended payment 
in 1 8 14. If he has been properly taught, he prob- 
ably will be, but if the teacher wishes to discuss 
these considerations in detail at the next recita- 
tion it will be infinitely better to have the facts 
contributed by the class than for the teacher to 
do the reciting. It is quite possible that the in- 
dividual answers to advance questions assigned 
with such a purpose will be incomplete, but the 
interest of the class will be incalculably greater 

23 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

if they themselves furnish the bulk of the addi- 
tional matter required. Collectively the class will 
usually secure complete answers to reasonable 
questions. The teacher has his opportunity in 
supplying such important facts as the students 
fail to find. 

Until the student may reasonably be expected 
to know the books of the library having to do 
with his subject, the teacher in giving out an 
advance lesson should mention by author and 
title the books most helpful in the preparation of 
assigned questions ; otherwise the student in a 
perfectly sincere effort to do the work assigned 
may spend an hour in search of the proper 
book. 

It may be urged that this search is a valuable 
experience, but it is obviously too costly. As the 
year advances and the pupil learns more and 
more about the uses of books and methods of in- 
vestigation increasingly less specific instruction 
as to sources should be given by the teacher. 
Early in the year, with four lessons to prepare 
daily, the pupil cannot afford an hour simply to 
search for a book. He needs that hour for prep- 
aration of other work, and if by some fortunate 
conjunction of circumstances his other work is 
not sufficiently exacting to require it, he cannot 
24 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

hope to appear in history class with a well-pre- 
pared lesson if an hour of his time has been 
spent in simply looking for a book. 

It is frequently worth while to spend a few 
minutes of the recitation in characterizing the 
epoch in which the events of the lesson take 
place or in listening to a brief character sketch 
of the men contributing to these events. Care 
should of course be taken that biography does 
not usurp the place of history, but it materially 
adds to the interest of the recitation if the kings, 
generals, and statesmen cease to be merely his- 
torical characters and become human beings. 

His acquaintance with the great men and 
women of history will be vitalized 

It is needless to say that characterizations of 
men or epochs should not be assigned without 
instruction as to how they should be prepared. 
In the case of a great historical character, what 
is needed for class purposes is not a biography 
with the dry facts of birth, marriage, death, etc. 
The report should be brief, but bristling with 
adjectives supported in each case by at least one 
fact of the man's life. These may be selected from 
his personal appearance, private life, amusements, 
education, obstacles overcome, public services, 

25 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

political sagacity, or military prowess. The sketch 
may close with a few brief estimates by bio- 
graphers or historians of his proper place in 
history. 

If a characterization of a period of history is 
to be required, the teacher should explain that 
such a characterization should be an exercise in 
the selection of brief statements of fact reflect- 
ing the ideals, institutions, and conditions of the 
period being described. From histories, source 
books, fiction, and literature, let the student select 
facts illustrating such things as the spirit of the 
laws, conditions at court, public education, amuse- 
ments of the people, social progress, position of 
religion, etc. A little time spent in characterizing 
a period of history and a few of its great men 
will assist in changing the recital of the bare 
facts given in the text to an intelligent under- 
standing of conditions and a vital discussion of 
events. For instance, the ordinary high school 
text, in dealing with the French and Indian war, 
speaks briefly of the lack of English success 
during the early part of the struggle and then 
says that with the coming of Pitt to the ministry 
the whole course of events was changed because 
of the great statesman's wonderful personality. 
The teacher who wishes to make such a dramatic 
26 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

circumstance really vital to his class must have 
more information with which to work. A picture 
of the. coarse, vulgar England with its incompe- 
tent army and navy, apathetic church, and cor- 
rupt government, followed by a stirring character 
sketch of the great Pitt, will cost but a few min- 
utes of the recitation and will metamorphose a 
moribund attention to a vital interest. 

Care should be taken that the characterizations 
given in class be properly prepared. To this end 
it will be well to assign the preparation of these 
sketches at least a week in advance, at the same 
time arranging a conference with the student a 
day or two before the recitation. In this confer- 
ence the teacher should make such corrections 
in the pupil's method of preparation and selec- 
tion of matter as seem necessary. The charac- 
terizations should not be read, but delivered by 
the student facing the class, precisely for the 
moment as though he were the teacher. Future 
tests and examinations should hold the class re- 
sponsible for the facts thus presented. If, as is 
too often the case in work of this sort, the stu- 
dent giving the report is the sole beneficiary of 
the exercise, the time required is disproportion- 
ate to the benefit derived. 



27 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

He will correlate the past and the present 

If there are facts recounted in the lesson that 
may be clinched in the student's mind by show- 
ing the relation of those facts to present-day 
conditions or institutions, a few advance ques- 
tions calculated to bring out this relationship 
may well be assigned. 

It is generally conceded that one chief purpose 
of history instruction is to enable us to interpret 
the present and the future in the light of the past, 
but it all too often happens that current history 
is forgotten in the recital of facts that are cen- 
turies old. Candidates for teachers' certificates 
in their examinations in United States history 
show far less knowledge about the great pro- 
blems and events of the present day than they do 
of colonial history. The student in English his- 
tory in our high schools to-day knows all about 
the Domesday Book, but almost nothing of the 
recent history of England. Quite possibly the 
text has nothing to say about it, and it is equally 
likely that the class may fail to cover the text 
and miss the little that is actually given. No op- 
portunity should be missed to indicate the bear- 
ing of the past on present-day conditions. Even 
if the events of the lesson exert no direct influ- 
28 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

ence on affairs to-day, their significance may be 
brought home to the student by an illustration 
from current history. The account of the Black 
Death gives excellent occasion for a brief discus- 
sion of modern sanitation and the war on the 
White Plague. The efforts of Parliament to fix 
wages can be illustrated by some of the minimum 
wage laws passed by recent legislatures. John 
Ball's teachings suggest a brief discussion of 
modern socialism, daily becoming more active in 
its influence. The medieval trade guilds and 
modern labor unions ; the monopolies of Eliza- 
beth's time and the anti-trust law of to-day ; 
George the Third's two hundred capital crimes 
and modern methods of penology ; the jealousy 
of Athens in guarding the privilege of citizen- 
ship and the facility with which immigrants at 
present become American citizens are only a few 
illustrations, indicating the ease with which the 
past and the present may be correlated. 

He will be required to memorize a limited 
amount of matter verbatim 

In assigning a lesson it is sometimes desirable 
to require certain matter to be learned verbatim. 
In American history the Preamble to the Con- 
stitution, the principles of government contained 
29 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

in the Declaration of Independence, the essen- 
tial doctrine in the Virginia and Kentucky Reso- 
lutions, certain clauses of the Constitution, and 
extracts from other historical documents may 
well be required to be memorized accurately. It 
is scarcely to be supposed that the student can 
improve on the clarity and definiteness of the 
English in such documents. He is expected to 
understand the principles which they assert. He 
may well be required to train his memory to ac- 
curacy by learning certain assignments verbatim. 
If memory work received a little more attention 
in our high schools to-day, we should be less 
likely to hear the statement of a political creed 
neutralized by the omission of an important word. 
We should be less likely to see the classic words 
of Lincoln mangled beyond recognition by messy 
misquotation. 

The assignment of advance questions such as 
have been suggested possesses several advan- 
tages. It makes it possible for the teacher to hold 
the class responsible for definite preparation, 
very much as the teacher in algebra is able to do 
with the problems assigned in advance. It forces 
the students to do most of the talking. It en- 
courages an intelligent use of the library in a man- 
ner calculated to develop the student's powers of 

30 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

investigation. If the pupil forgets most of his his- 
tory, but retains the ability to investigate care- 
fully, thoroughly, and critically, the plan has 
more than justified itself. The plan enables the 
teacher to spend his time in explanation of what 
the pupil has been unable to do for herself, and 
thus effects a considerable saving in time. It 
would be interesting to secure a statement of 
how much of the teacher's time is ordinarily spent 
in doing for the student in recitation what he 
should have done for himself before coming to 
class. It substitutes for the pupil's snap judgment, 
given without much thought and too frequently 
influenced by the inflection of the teacher's voice, 
an opinion that has resulted from research and 
deliberation unbiased by the teacher's personal 
views. 

It is too much to expect high school pupils to 
solve historical problems extemporaneously. If 
inferences and contrasts other than those given 
in the text are to be drawn, if statements are to 
be defended or opposed, the high school student 
should be given time to prepare his answer. 
Aside from the injustice of any other procedure, 
it is a hopeless waste of time to spend the pre- 
cious minutes of the recitation in gathering neg- 
ative replies and worthless judgments. 

3* 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

Methods of preparing questions assigned in 
advance 

It may be urged that such an assignment of a 
lesson as that proposed is too ambitious and that 
it exacts too much of the teacher's time. In an- 
swer it should be said that specialists in history 
ought surely to have read widely enough and 
studied deeply enough to be able to select intel- 
ligent questions of the sort suggested. We have 
assumed that the teacher has made adequate pre- 
paration for his work. Certainly, then, he should 
be ready to explain the social, geographical, and 
economic relation of the events mentioned in the 
lesson. He should know their bearing on current 
history. He should always have ready a fund of 
information, additional to that given in the text. 
In preparing advance questions for distribution 
to the class the teacher is preparing his own les- 
son. He may be doing it a day or two earlier than 
he would otherwise do, but surely he is perform- 
ing no labor additional to what may reasonably 
be expected of him. As to the time required to 
prepare copies of the questions for distribution 
when the class convenes, it may be said that a 
neostyle or mimeograph, with which all large 
schools and many small ones are equipped, makes 

32 



ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

short work of preparing as many copies of the 
questions as desired. If there is a commercial de- 
partment in connection with the school, an avail- 
able stenographer, or a willing student helper, 
the teacher may easily relieve himself of the 
work of supplying the copies. If none of these 
expedients are possible, it is no Herculean task 
to write each day on the board the few questions 
for the next lesson. It will entail no great loss 
of time if the class are asked to copy them when 
they first come to recitation. If it is possible to 
copy them after the recitation, so much the bet- 
ter. And beyond the obvious advantages of a 
carefully assigned lesson it must be remembered 
that in the assignment of special topics, in private 
conferences with the student, in the correction 
of notes, in giving assistance in the library, the 
teacher has an opportunity to cultivate a sympa- 
thetic relation between himself and the class of 
inestimable service in securing the best results. 



IV 

i THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

Assumptions as to the recitation room 

Let us now assume that the recitation will be 
held in a quiet room free from the distracting 
influence of poor light, poor ventilation, and in- 
adequate seating capacity. The blackboard space 
is ample for the whole class, the erasers and chalk 
are at hand, the maps, charts, and globe are where 
they can be used without stumbling over them. 
The teacher can give his whole attention to the 
class. "Discipline should take care of itself. The 
pupil who is interested will not be seriously out 
of order. 

What the teacher shoidd aim to accomplish 

The problem, then, is so to expend the forty- 
five minutes in which the teacher and class are 
together that : — 

i. So far as possible the atmosphere and set- 
ting of the period being studied may be 
reproduced. 

34 



METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

2. The great historical characters spoken of 
in the lesson may become for the student 
real men and women with whom he will 
afterwards feel a personal acquaintance. 

3. The events described will be understood 
and properly interpreted in their relation 
to geography, and the economic and social 
progress of the world. 

4. Causes and effects shall be properly ana- 
lyzed. 

5. And that there shall be left sufficient time 
for the occasional review necessary to any 
good instruction. 

Work at the blackboard 

The first five minutes may profitably be spent 
at the board, each member of the class being 
asked to write a complete answer to one of the 
assigned questions. Whatever may happen later 
in the recitation each student has had at least 
this much of an opportunity for self-expression, 
and his work should be neat, workmanlike, com- 
plete, and accurate. By this device the alert 
teacher will secure in the first five minutes of 
the recitation hour a fairly accurate idea of each 
student's preparation, the weak spots in his under- 
standing of the lesson, and the errors to be cor- 

35 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

rected. He may even be able to record a grade 
for the work done. 

Special reports 

The class having taken their seats, the next 
order of business should be the reports on special 
topics assigned for the purpose of making the 
period of history under discussion more interest- 
ing and vital. As has been said, these reports 
should not be read, but delivered by the pupil 
facing the class. The class should be encouraged 
to ask questions on the report when finished and 
the student responsible for the report should be 
expected to answer any reasonable inquiry. If 
other students are able to contribute to the topics 
reported on, they should be encouraged to do so. 
Let the teacher be sure that he has sounded the 
depths of the students' information and curios- 
ity before he himself discusses the report. If the 
device of reports delivered in class is to justify 
itself, the matter contained in them must be so 
arranged and discussed that the whole class re- 
ceives real benefit. The ingenious teacher will 
be able to establish a tradition in his course for 
a careful preparation and critical discussion of 
these reports. The rivalry of students for excel- 
lence in this work is not difficult to stimulate. A 

36 



METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

premium should be put on criticism which finds 
mentioned in the characterization qualities in- 
consistent with the facts recorded in the text, or 
omissions which the facts of the text seem to 
justify. 

Fundamental principles of good questioning 

It is not likely that the teacher will find it ad- 
visable to require reports at every recitation nor 
that the reports and their discussion will con- 
sume, at the most, longer than ten or fifteen 
minutes of any class period. There must always 
be time for direct oral questioning on the facts 
of the lesson ; questioning that will test the stu- 
dent's memory, ability to analyze, and powers 
of expression. Certain-principles are fundamental 
to good questioning in any recitation. 

1. The questions should be brief. 

2. They should be prepared by the teacher 
before coming to recitation. This will insure 
rapidity. A vast deal of time is lost by the 
unfortunate habit possessed by many teach- 
ers of never having the next question ready 
to use. 

3. They should precede the name of the pupil 
required to answer it. 

37 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

4. They should not be leading questions to 
which the pupil can guess the answers. 

5. They should be grammatically stated with 
but one possible interpretation. 

6. Except for purposes of rapid review they 
should not be answerable with yes or no. 

7. They should be asked in a voice loud enough 
to be heard by all the class, and only once. 

8. They should be asked in no regular order, 
but nevertheless in such a way that every 
member of the class will have a chance to 
recite. 

Some additional suggestions for teachers of 
history 

There are additional suggestions particularly 
applicable to the teacher of history. 

1. In all the questioning remember the pur- 
poses of the recitation. Ask questions know- 
ing exactly what you wish as an answer. 
There is no time for aimless or idle ques- 
tioning. 

2. Inquire frequently as to the books used in 
preparation of the lesson. Let no allusion 
or statement in the text go unexplained. 
Let none of the author's conclusions or 

38 



METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

opinions go unchallenged. Ask the student 
for inconsistencies, inaccuracies, or contra- 
dictions in the text. Put a premium on 
their discovery. Insist on the student's au- 
thority for statements other than those 
given in the text. 

3. Do not use the heavy-typed words frequently 
found at the head of the paragraph or the 
topical heads furnished by the text, if it can 
be avoided. The pupil should not be al- 
lowed to remember his history by its loca- 
tion in the text. 

4. Be sure that the class have an opportunity 
to recite on the questions assigned for their 
advance preparation. Nothing is more dis- 
couraging to a student than carefully to 
prepare the work required and then fail of 
an opportunity either to recite upon or to 
discuss it. 

5. Discover the tastes, shortcomings, and abili- 
ties of your individual students and direct 
your future questions accordingly. There 
will usually be in the class the boy who is 
glib without being accurate. He should be 
questioned on definite facts. There will be 
the student whose analysis of events is good, 
but whose powers of description are poor. 

39 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

Adapt your questions to his special need. 
There will be the pupil with the tendency 
to memorize the text verbatim. There will 
be the student who knows the facts of the 
lesson, but who fails to remember the se- 
quence of events — the kind who never can 
tell whether the Exclusion Bill came before 
or after the Restoration. There will be the 
usual amount of specialized tastes, curiosity, 
timidity, laziness, and rattle-brained think- 
ing. The questioning should probe these 
peculiarities, and stimulate the pupil's am- 
bition to improve his preparation at its 
weakest point. Needless to say the ques- 
tions should not be asked with the daily 
idea of making the pupil fail. Like any 
other surgical instrument the question 
probe should be used skillfully and with a 
proper motive. It would be as great an error 
to bend your questions continually away 
from the student's special tastes and abil- 
ities as to be perpetually guided by them. 
6. The bulk of the teacher's attention should 
be given neither to the few exceptionally 
able students nor to the few very poor 
pupils. It is to the average normal boy and 
girl that the most of the questioning should 
40 



METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

be directed. The brilliant student should 
be called on sufficiently to retain his inter- 
est and to set a standard of excellence for 
the class. He should be given the most diffi- 
cult of the assignments of outside work and 
if necessary an additional number of them. 
As to the few pupils whom the teacher 
deems exceptionally poor, it may be said 
that the effect of questioning should never 
be to discourage the pupil who has made an 
honest effort at preparation. During the 
early part of the course the efforts of the 
teacher may well be directed to asking the 
backward student questions to which he 
can make reasonably satisfactory answers. 
By saving the student from the daily hu- 
miliation of failure before the class, and by 
tactfully encouraging him to greater effort, 
the teacher may shortly discover that the 
poor pupil is far from hopeless. 
7. Do not allow your questions to consume a 
disproportionate amount of time with de- 
tails. Until very recently in all our history 
teaching, battles have been exalted to a 
place immeasurably greater than their im- 
portance. We are coming to see that the 
fighting is one of the least important things 
4i 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

in the war. The causes and results, the 
financial, political, and social effects now 
absorb our attention. One or two battles in 
a course may profitably be studied in detail, 
particularly in the history of our own coun- 
try, but in the press of considerations far 
more interesting and vital, it is a waste of 
time to give more than a moment's notice 
to the remainder. Student descriptions of 
battles are bound to be stereotyped. The 
ordinary textbook describes each of the 
thousand battles of the world in about the 
same fifty words. 
8. Let some of the questions be directed 
towards cultivating the student's powers of 
oral description. History is not altogether 
a matter of analysis or generalization. There 
can scarcely be assigned a lesson in history 
that does not contain events which lend 
themselves to dramatic description. Their 
recital should be made the occasion of the 
student's best efforts in this direction. Let 
the pupils be taught to use adjectives and 
adverbs. Break down the barrier of listless- 
ness or fear or self-consciousness which 
keeps the student from rendering a graphic 
and thrilling account of great events. 
42 



METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

9. Let the questions from day to day develop 
the continuity of history. Avoid question- 
ing that fails to unite the events of previous 
lessons with the one being studied. Bring 
out the connection of the past and the pres- 
sent. Slavery existed in America for two 
hundred years before the Civil War was 
fought. Your teaching of those two centu- 
ries of history should be so conducted that 
when the Civil War is finally reached, the 
class can tell the process by which anti- 
slavery sentiment was finally crystallized. 
The hiatus between the mobbing of Garri- 
son in Boston and the extraordinary con- 
tribution of Massachusetts to the Northern 
army should be bridged, not by a heroic 
question or two when the war is finally 
reached, but by a daily attention to the 
events which effected the metamorphosis. 

10. If the answer to your question requires the 
use of a map, ask it in such a way that the 
student can talk and use the map at the 
same time. The geographical provisions of 
a treaty, the routes of explorers, the grants 
of commercial companies, campaigns, or 
military frontiers should all be recited in 
this way. A wall map with simply the out- 

43 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

line of the territory, with its rivers, will 
be of considerable assistance in testing 
the accuracy of the student's geographical 
knowledge. While reciting, let him locate 
with chalk or pointer the cities, arbitrary 
boundary lines, and routes he finds it neces- 
sary to mention in his recitation. It will 
require special attention early in the course 
to teach students the necessity for prepara- 
tion of this sort. Like everything else, map 
work should be reasonable in its require- 
ments. A knowledge of geography is im- 
perative to the correct understanding of his- 
tory, and the indifference or ignorance of 
teachers should never excuse inattention to 
this vital necessity. On the other hand, 
however, it is equally reprehensible to re- 
quire of high school students the labored 
preparation of maps in the drawing of which 
hours of valuable time are spent in search- 
ing for places of trivial importance and 
small historical value. Map work in a high 
school history course should require no more 
than geographical accuracy in locating 
boundaries, routes, and places really vital 
to the history of the people being studied. 
If it does more than this it usurps time 
disproportionate to its value. 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

The place of drill in the history recitation 

We have long since learned the folly of spending 
very many of the minutes of a recitation in drill- 
ing students in dates, outlines, and charts. Work 
of this sort never made a recitation vital ; never 
inspired a student with enthusiasm for historical 
inquiry ; never really dispelled the fog which sur- 
rounds, for the student, the cabinets and consti- 
tutions, battles and boundaries, declarations and 
decrees, so briefly treated in the text. 

Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the 
sequence of events 

But it may be seriously questioned whether 
many teachers, in their zeal to escape the over- 
emphasis of dates, have not gone to the extreme 
of neglecting them altogether. That a student 
should remember sufficient dates to fix in his 
mind the sequence of important events is hardly 
open to question. That he can never do so with- 
out some special attention to dates is equally 

45 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

indisputable. Without doubt, drill in important 
dates is necessary, but it should be so conducted 
as to take but little time. Each day the teacher 
has indicated the dates worthy to be remembered 
and has been careful to select the landmarks of 
history. He has called attention to the various 
collateral circumstances which might assist to 
fix the dates in the child's mind. The student has 
kept his list of dates in the back of his text or 
in some convenient place of reference. Once a 
week for three minutes the teacher gives the 
class a rapid review on the dates contained in 
the list. Occasionally the class are sent to the 
board and asked to write the dates of the reigns 
of the English monarchs from William down 
to the point which the class has reached, or the 
Presidents in their order, or some other similar 
exercise calculated to give a backbone to the 
history being studied. The class will know that 
such a review is liable to be given at any time. 
They will endeavor to be prepared. The result 
will be that with the expenditure of a few min- 
utes at intervals in rapid review, history will 
cease to be a spineless narrative and become for 
the student an orderly procession of events. 
Drill in dates is only one method to this end. 
There may be a rapid review in battles, generals, 

46 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

wars, treaties, proclamations, and inventions. 
Such exercises encourage the classification of 
facts and stimulate fluency of expression. It is of 
the highest importance for the student so to ar- 
range in his mind what he has learned in recita- 
tion that he can call to his command at a second's 
notice the fact, date, or illustration he desires. 
There will be many times in his school and col- 
lege career when such an ability will be indis- 
pensable; in business or the professions it is an 
invaluable asset, infinitely more useful than the 
history itself. It will be well for the teacher to 
inquire : " What am I doing to cultivate such an 
ability in my students ? " 

They will give a view of the whole subject 

Few teachers will deny that too little time is 
spent in giving the student a general view of the 
whole subject, either in its entirety or in its vari- 
ous phases. The text has been studied by chap- 
ters or by months or by movements. The history 
as a whole has never been seen. By the time 
the student has reached the " Aldrich Currency 
Plan " in American history he has forgotten all 
about the experiments with the first United 
States Bank. He could no more outline the finan- 
cial history of the United States as given in his 

47 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

text than he could outline the industrial or politi- 
cal history of the American people. And yet he 
has studied the facts given in his textbook ; he 
has supplemented the text by his work in the 
library, and in the recitation ; he has done every- 
thing that may reasonably be expected of him, 
except to assemble his historical information and 
review it as a whole. 

If the student in American history is asked to 
go to the board at intervals and write an outline 
for the work covered on such topics as the follow- 
ing, he will come much nearer understanding the 
progress of our people : — 

1. History of the tariff. 

2. Political parties and principles for which 
they stood. 

3. Things that crystallized Northern sentiment 
against slavery. 

4. Reasons for the unification of the South. 

5. Diplomatic relations of the United States. 

6. Additions of territory. 

7. Financial legislation. 

8. Growth of humanitarian spirit. 

There will easily be sufficient topics so that 
each member of the class will have a different 
48 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

one. They can all work at the board, simultane- 
ously. The amount of time used for exercises of 
this sort need not be great, and the value re- 
ceived is incalculable. 

If the teacher wishes to review briefly on the 
military, diplomatic, social, political, or economic 
history of the people the class have been study- 
ing, it is no difficult matter to arrange a set of 
questions, the occasional review in which will 
clinch in the student's mind what otherwise 
would surely be forgotten. Such questions as the 
following on the financial history of the United 
States are each answerable with a few words and 
will serve as an illustration of the method which 
may be employed in reviewing any other phase 
of history : — 

1. By what means was trade accomplished be- 
fore the use of money ? 

2. What are the functions of money ? 

3. What determines the amount of money 
needed in a country ? 

4. What has been used for money at various 
periods of our history ? 

5. What is meant by doing business on credit? 

6. What is cheap money ? 

7. What is Gresham's Law ? 

49 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

8. What is the effect of large issues of paper 
money on prices ? 

9. What is the effect of large issues of paper 
money on wages ? 

10. Why does the wage-earner suffer? 

11. At what periods in American history 
have large issues of paper money been 
emitted ? 

12. What were the objects of the first United 
States Bank ? 

13. Did the bank accomplish them ? 

14. Why was it not rechartered ? 

15. When was the second United States Bank 
chartered ? 

16. Why? 

17. What case decided the constitutionality of 
the bank ? 

18. Did the second United States Bank ac- 
complish the purpose for which it was 
formed ? 

19. Why was the second United States Bank 
rechartered ? 

20. What is meant by " Wildcat Banking " ? 

21. What are the dates of our greatest panics ? 

22. What were the chief causes ? 

23. What was the effect on prices ? 

24. What on wages ? 

SO 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

25. Under what President was the independent 
treasury first established ? 

26. Is it in existence to-day ? 

27. When were greenbacks issued ? 

28. To what amount ? 

29. Who was responsible for the issue ? 

30. Were they legal tender for private debts 
contracted before their issue ? 

31. When was the Resumption Act passed ? 

32. Are the greenbacks in circulation to-day ? 

33. What is free silver ? 

34. What was the " Crime of '73 " ? 

35. What was the " Bland-Allison Act "? 

36. What was the Currency Act of 1900 ? 

37. What is Bimetallism ? 

38. What is meant by " Mint Ratio " ? 

39. What is meant by " Market Ratio " ? 

40. What is meant by " Free Coinage " ? 

41. What is meant by "Gratuitous Coinage" ? 

42. What is meant by " Standard Money" ? 

43. With the market ratio at 30 to 1 and the 
mint ratio at 16 to 1, which money would 
tend to disappear from circulation if both 
metals are freely coined and made full legal 
tender ? 

44. Why is silver not the standard to-day ? 

45. What is the " Aldrich Plan " ? 

5i 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

46. What is a United States bond ? 

47. Is it a secure investment ? 

48. What is its average rate of interest ? 

49. By whom is a national bank chartered ? 

50. May it issue paper money ? 

51. When was the first National Banking Act 
passed ? 

52. Why? 

53. Why should banking business be profitable 
under the act ? 

54. What advantage did the Government ex- 
pect to receive in passing the act ? 

55. Are deposits guaranteed ? 

56. May States emit bills of credit ? 

57. Is it constitutional for banks chartered by 
the State to emit bills of credit ? 

58. Do they do so to-day? 

59. Why? 

Obviously as the year advances, the list of 
questions for review grows longer. An increasing 
amount of time should therefore be devoted to 
work of this sort. 

They will insure a better acquaintance with great 
men and women 

The most superficial observation will suffice 
to convince anyone that high school graduates 

52 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

know very little about the great men and women 
of history. The character sketches suggested 
earlier in the chapter, supplemented with occa- 
sional reviews, will do much to improve this con- 
dition. These drills may be conducted by asking 
for brief statements on the greatest service or the 
most distinguishing characteristic of the great 
men and women met with in the course. The 
same thing is accomplished by reversing the pro- 
cess and asking such questions as, — " Who was 
the American Fabius" ? or " The Great Compro- 
miser"? or the "Sage of Menlo Park"? etc. 
Questions on the authorship of great documents, 
the founders of institutions, the organizers of 
movements, reformers, philosophers, artists, 
statesmen, generals, accomplish the same pur- 
pose. 

They will be economical of time 
There are a vast number of review questions 
answerable with yes or no. The student's know- 
ledge of the subject may be quickly discovered 
and a rapid review conducted by a series of such 
questions. The following list on American his- 
tory will illustrate the method : — 

i. Was Cromwell's colonial policy helpful to 
the American colonies ? 
53 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

2. Did the Revolution of 1688 have any effect 
on the colonies ? 

3. Were the Huguenots excluded from Canada? 

4. Were the Writs of Assistance used in Eng- 
land ? 

5. Did America ever have a theocracy ? 

6. Did the rule of 1756 affect the people of 
the colonies ? 

7. Was the Sugar Act legal ? 

8. Was there any effort to amend the Articles 
of Confederation ? 

9. Does funding a debt lessen it ? 

10. Did Hamilton's measures tend to centralize 
power ? 

11. Did the members of the Constitutional 
Convention exceed their instructions ? 

12. Is a cabinet provided for in the Constitu- 
tion ? 

13. Does the Constitution of the United States 
prevent a State from establishing a religion ? 

14. Is it possible for a State to repudiate its 
debts ? 

15. Does the constitutional provision for uni- 
form duties protect the Territories ? 

16. Was impressment practiced in England ? 

17. Did the Whigs favor internal improve- 
ments ? 

54 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

1 8. Did the North favor the Force Bill of 1833 ? 

19. Did Massachusetts favor the Tariff of 
1816? 

20. Did the Republican party stand for the 
abolition of slavery in 1 860 ? 

21. Did the Emancipation Proclamation free all 
the slaves in the United States ? 

22. Did the working-men of England favor the 
South during the Civil War ? 

23. Was it necessary for the South to resort to 
the draft ? 

24. Could a man in i860 consistently accept 
both the Dred Scott decision and the doc- 
trine of popular sovereignty ? 

25. Did Lincoln's assassination have any effect 
on the reconstruction policy ? 

26. Does the Federal Constitution compel ne- 
gro suffrage ? 

27. Was the Anaconda System successful ? 

28. Was a President of the United States ever 
impeached ? 

29. Were the claims for indirect damages in 
the Alabama claims allowed ? 

30. Did Calhoun favor the Compromise of 
1850? 

31. Did Thaddeus Stevens favor the Fifteenth 
Amendment to the Constitution ? 

55 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

32. Did Lincoln favor the social equality of the 
white and black races ? 

33. Did Grant favor the Tenure of Office Act ? 

34. Did Lee make more than one attempt to 
invade the North ? 

35. Was the "Ohio Idea" ever strong enough 
to affect legislation ? 

36. Did Spain have any part in calling out the 
Monroe Doctrine ? 

37. Has the United States any control over the 
debts of Cuba ? 

38. Has a joint resolution ever been used to ac- 
quire territory other than that included in 
Texas ? 

39. Has the United States ever resorted to a 
tax on incomes ? 

40. Has the Federal Government ever attempted 
to restrict the power of the press ? 

41. Is it illegal to-day for a railway to give a 
cheaper rate to one shipper than to an- 
other ? 

42. Has the Republican party ever reduced the 
protective tariffs of the war ? 

43. Did the Civil Service Act passed in 1883 
include postmasters ? 

44. Did the Wilson-Gorman Act reduce the 
tariff to a revenue basis ? 

56 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

45. Can a railway engaged solely in intra-state 
business carry a case, involving a reduction 
of their rates by the State legislature, to 
the Supreme Court of the United States ? 

46. Is Utah a part of the Louisiana Purchase ? 

47. If the mint ratio is 16 to 1 and the market 
ratio is 17 to 1, will the gold dollar be the 
standard if there is full legal tender and 
free coinage for both gold and silver ? 

48. Is the Canadian frontier fortified ? 

49. Are the functions of government in this 
country increasing ? 

50. Is it possible for a man to be defeated for 
the Presidency if a majority of the people 
vote for him ? 

The great disadvantage of this kind of review 
is that the students have for their answer a 
choice between two words, one of which is 
bound to be correct. Knowing nothing whatever 
of the subject, they will still stand a fifty per cent 
chance of answering correctly. The alert teacher 
should be able to reduce this haphazard answer- 
ing to a minimum, while still reaping the advan- 
tages of rapidity and thoroughness which the 
plan possesses. Few other methods will cover as 
much ground in as short time. On the Federal 

57 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

Constitution there are infinite possibilities for 
" yes and no " questioning, which afford a brief 
and effective means of review in the principles 
of American government. 

They will secure fluency 

Review for the purpose of securing fluency is 
a consideration frequently lost sight of by high 
school history teachers. It may be too sanguine 
to expect fluency of the average student reciting 
on a topic for the first time. But when it is con- 
sidered how very many important questions are 
never recited on but once, the wisdom of an 
occasional review to secure rapid, fluent, and 
complete answers to topics previously discussed 
is readily seen. Select a list of topics that will 
at one and the same time cultivate fluency and 
strengthen the memory for the important con- 
siderations of history. Fluency in itself does not 
possess sufficient value to justify the expenditure 
of recitation time. Facility of expression needs 
to be cultivated in discussion of the conclusions 
reached in class which need to be clinched in the 
student's mind. Such questions as the following 
will serve as illustrations of the kind adaptable 
for such purpose, at the middle of a year course 
in American history : — 

58 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

1. Give three distinct characteristics of French 
colonization in America ; three of Spanish ; 
three of English. 

2. What things did the English colonies possess 
in common ? 

3. What were the results to the colonies of the 
French and Indian War? 

4. To what extent was the Revolution brought 
about by economic causes ? 

5. What were the defects in the Articles of 
Confederation ? 

6. Account for the downfall of the Federalist 
party. 

7. In what ways has democracy advanced since 
1789? 

8. What were the results of the struggle over 
the admission of Missouri ? 

9. Discuss the growth of the sentiment for 
internal improvements ? 

10. Describe the social life of the Western 
pioneer ? 

What the studetit may do with "problems " in 
history 

Still another kind of review of great value in 
strengthening the student's ability to generalize 

59 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

and analyze, consists of what might be called 
"problems in history." They are given out in 
much the same way as original problems in 
geometry, assuming that the student is acquainted 
with the facts from which to deduce the answers 
to the question. The object of such a review is to 
give the student practice in original thinking. 
He is not supposed to use a library, but only the 
facts which are in his text or which have been 
previously brought out in class recitations. 

The following are examples of questions adapt- 
able for this purpose : — 

1. Why can the American people be regarded 
as the world's greatest colonizers ? 

2. Why could Washington be regarded as only 
an Englishman living in America? 

3. Is it true that the South lost the Civil War 
because of slavery ? 

4. In what particulars did Andrew Jackson ac- 
curately reflect the spirit or the ideals of the 
new West ? 

5. What is illustrated by the attempt to found 
the State of Franklin ? 

6. What considerations made the secession of 
the West in our early history a likely possi- 
bility ? 

60 



VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

Questions of this kind, not answered directly 
in class or in the text, may be given out a day in 
advance and the answers collected at the next 
recitation. 



VI 

THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS 

The purpose of theme work should change as 
the course continues 

A method frequently employed by teachers of his- 
tory is to require written reports or themes on vari- 
ous phases of the history as the work progresses. 
This plan is particularly valuable for the students 
in the first two years of high school history, for 
the reason that their library requirements are less 
exacting and their need of fluency greater during 
that time than later in their course. The objects 
of theme work in history courses are usually to 
arouse the pupil's powers of observation, descrip- 
tion, and narration, and to provide means of drill 
in the exercise of these powers. These should 
not be the sole purposes of theme work, how- 
ever. As the year advances, an increasing amount 
of the written work should be on subjects requir- 
ing some generalization or analysis of the facts 
brought out in the text or in the recitation. The 
pupil who has written a theme describing the 
appearance of the Pyramids has completed an 
62 



THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS 

exercise in history less valuable than that of the 
student who writes a theme on the errors of the 
Athenian Democracy. 

To summarize, reviews in history should con- 
sist of both oral and written work ; they should 
be rapid enough to insure quick thinking, alert 
attention, and small expenditure of time ; they 
should occur with increasing frequency as the 
year advances ; they should stock the memory, 
fix in the student's mind the order of events, 
stimulate fluency, insure a permanent acquaint- 
ance with the personnel of history, and give to 
the student a better view of the subject as a 
whole and in its various phases. 



VII 

EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS 

The examination should determine how much 
the student has progressed 

The time is coming, if it is not already here, 
when the public will cry out against the nervous 
fear and sleepless nights with which their children 
approach the semi-annual torture of our inquisi- 
torial examinations. That reasonable examina- 
tions are essential and beneficial is hardly open 
to question. That a student should be expected 
correctly to answer a fair percentage of reason- 
able questions on work which has been properly 
taught is not a cause of complaint from anyone. 
But that children should be frightened into a 
state of nervous terror by the bugaboo of an im- 
pending examination, and then be forced to at- 
tempt a series of conundrums propounded by a 
teacher who takes pride in maintaining a high 
percentage of failures, is indefensible. An exam- 
ination should not be conducted with the primary 
object of making it a thing to be feared. How- 
ever desirable such a questionable asset may seem 

64 



EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS 

to certain college professors, it is a serious fault 
in a high school teacher to have any considerable 
number of normal children fail. The ambition of 
the good instructor is to give an examination 
which shall at once be thorough, reasonable, and 
intelligently directed toward finding what the 
student has really learned. His purpose is to 
test accurately the various abilities which he has 
endeavored to encourage in the student during 
his course. He wishes to ascertain how much 
the student has really progressed. 

Specific suggestions on formulating questions 

In order to do this the examination must be on 
the really material considerations of the history. 
Questions on unimportant details should be 
omitted. The student should not be expected to 
burden his memory with the limitless mass of 
petty isolated facts contained in the average 
history text. The questions should be on consid- 
erations that have been carefully discussed, and 
not on facts that have received but cursory 
attention. 

The examination should not require too much 
time for writing. The several hours' continuous 
nervous tension sometimes exacted by too am- 
bitious teachers does the average child more 

65 



THE TEACHING OF HISTORY 

harm than the examination can possibly do him 
good. 

The examination should consist of questions 
that will jointly or severally test the student's 
powers of description, generalization, and analy- 
sis. They should test his knowledge of the se- 
quence of events, his ability to use a library or 
a map, his knowledge of the various phases and 
the various periods of the history studied. In 
every examination there should be at least one 
question dealing with the time and the order of 
events, one each on the geographical, political, 
and social history, one that is analytical, one that 
requires generalization, one that will test his 
knowledge of the library, and one that will test 
his powers of description. It is not necessary to 
limit the questions to the customary number of 
ten. It is frequently advisable to give a class 
some degree of choice in the selection of their 
questions by requiring any ten out of a larger 
number asked. Certainly such a plan gives the 
student a more favorable opportunity to demon- 
strate his ability without in the least diminishing 
the value of the examination. 

Examination questions, like all other questions, 
should be definite, clean-cut, and reasonable. If 
possible, each student should be supplied with 
66 



EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS 

a copy, instead of having the set written on the 
board. They should cover only those portions of 
the subject that have been properly taught. The 
teacher should not expect the boy who has kept 
no useful notes, whose library work has been 
haphazard, and whose methods of study have not 
been supervised, to perform at examination time 
the miracle of accurately remembering what he 
has never been properly taught. 



OUTLINE 

I. SOME PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS 

i. Assumptions as to the teacher of history ... I 
2. Actual conditions confronted by the teacher . . 2 

II. HOW TO BEGIN THE COURSE 

i. What should be done on the day of enrollment . 4 

2. What should be done at the first meeting of the 

class 5 

3. Necessity for definite instruction in methods of 

preparing a lesson ° 

4. The question of note-taking 10 

5. Instruction in the use of the library and indexes . 13 

III. THE ASSIGNMENT OF THE LESSON 

1. Careful assignment will reveal to the student the 

relation of geography and history 18 

2. His power of analysis and criticism will be stimu- 

lated l 9 

3. The conditions in other countries will add to his 

comprehension of the facts in the lesson ... 22 

4. His disposition to study intensively will be en- 

couraged 2 3 

69 



OUTLINE 

5. His acquaintance with the great men and women 

of history will be vitalized 25 

6. He will correlate the past and the present ... 28 

7. He will be required to memorize a limited amount 

of matter verbatim 29 

8. Methods of preparing questions assigned in ad- 

vance 32 

IV. THE METHOD OF THE RECITATION 

1. Assumptions as to the recitation room .... 34 

2. What the teacher should aim to accomplish . . 34 

3. Work at the blackboard 35 

4. Special reports 36 

5. Fundamental principles of good questioning . . 37 

6. Some additional suggestions for teachers of his- 

tory .38 

V. VARIOUS MODES OF REVIEW 

1. The place of drill in the history recitation ... 45 

2. Good reviews will develop a knowledge of the se- 

quence of events 45 

3. They will give a view of the whole subject ... 47 

4. They will insure a better acquaintance with great 

men and women 52 

5. They will be economical of time 53 

6. They will secure fluency 58 

7. What the student may do with " problems " in his- 

tory 59 

70 



w so 



OUTLINE 



VI. THE USE OF WRITTEN REPORTS 

I. The purpose of theme work should change as the 

course continues 62 



VII. EXAMINATIONS AS TESTS OF PROGRESS 

1. The examination should determine how much the 

student has progressed 64 

2. Specific suggestions on formulating questions . . 65 



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